


saints don't get second chances

by v_i_o_l_e_t_s



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 03:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18241568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_i_o_l_e_t_s/pseuds/v_i_o_l_e_t_s
Summary: Against all odds, Tara Chambler winds up with a knife pressed against Alpha's throat. Alpha doesn't flinch.The fighting carries on around them.Both Alpha and Tara know the Whisperers will win. Both know this will be the end for Tara and the others.Tara speaks: "Tell me why I shouldn't?"





	saints don't get second chances

Alpha smiles. "You should." She's curious, more than anything, about what this weak, stuck-in-the-past woman will do. 

"Then what? Your people still kill mine. The people I care about still die. No, I won't--but not because I don't want to," Tara replies. She unnerved by the lack of depth of Alpha's eyes. It feels like staring into a a clear glass ball that refuses to give anything away. 

Alpha considers her words for only a moment. "Do you want to live?" 

Tara nods. She's not ready to die. 

"Then you can't hesitate the next time you have a knife against someone's throat." Alpha moves her hand minutely. 

One of her men immediately grabs Tara, pulling her away before the knife can cut through skin. 

Everyone is captured, held tightly. There's no escape now. 

"Kill me first," Tara volunteers herself. 

Alpha's eyebrow twitches. "You're not dying first." She picks up the knife that'd clattered to the ground when Tara let it go. 

She throws it with a startlingly accurate hand. It lodges in Enid's chest. 

Everyone cries out at once, trying to clamor toward Enid. 

Tara breaks free first. She knows she's going down but grabs the knife from Enid's chest regardless. She stares into her wide, afraid eyes. Enid nods, just barely so. Tara slits her throat. It's a mercy. 

Alpha's men stay away from Tara but flock around the rest. She nods. They start slashing. 

Tara rises and turns to ty to help, but it's too late. They're all dead, save for a struggling Henry. But Tara pays him no mind. She's filled with rage. Sadness as well but mostly rage. "So this is it? You force me to mercy kill Enid, so you can save me for last?" 

A man knocks Henry out after a nod from Alpha. 

Alpha shakes her head. "I'm not going to kill you." 

Tara laughs. "Yeah, right. Just get it over with." 

Alpha doesn't respond, instead motioning to one of her men. 

She walks toward Tara. 

Tara doesn't hesitate to strike her down with a slash across her throat. She falls to her knees, gurgling as she drowns in her own blood. If Tara dies today, she dies by Alpha's hand. 

"It looks like you've learned something here," Alpha muses, motioning for her men to gather behind herself. 

Tara watches, knife clutched in a shaking hand. "Why?" 

"You'll never know." 

"What--" 

Someone strikes the back of Tara's head, someone who'd been waiting behind a piece of farm equipment just in case Tara tried to run through the back. 

Tara falls, out cold. 

"Take her outside," Alpha commands. 

Two of her men rush forward to execute the orders. 

Alpha kneels down next to Enid's body as Tara is carried out. She has a border to mark. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carol finds Henry tied to a tree, Daryl and Ezekiel behind her. She unties her son and embraces him. He's mumbling unintelligible words. 

Ezekiel joins the hug. 

Daryl goes to pass them by, to investigate and see if the others are further up, but Henry reaches out to grab his arm. 

Sandwiched between his parents, Henry looks far more afraid than Daryl has ever seen him. 

"What?" Daryl whispers. He thinks the worst. 

Henry shakes his head, breaking down into sobs. His parents sink down to the ground with him. 

Daryl takes a step back. "No." He turns and runs up the incline, pausing as the pikes come into view. He walks from there, gazing out over the heads mounted on branches, groaning. His eyes pass over everyone, taking in their zombified faces. Dead center, a head mutilated beyond recognition but still somehow softly groaning. Tattered brown hair, a knife sticking straight up. A small piece of paper, sullied with dirt and blood, marked with nearly illegible script. Two words: They tried.


End file.
